In Australia’s noisy marketplace of retail banks, superannuation providers and credit unions all developing similar content, financial service marketers are faced with the challenge of delivering an effective message in a crowded room.

In our article on 'using data to drive meaningful change', we noted a key question companies should be asking. We wanted companies to ask ‘what data will enable me to get the best and most competitive insight?’

This ties into how strategic interdependence works and if you haven’t read our article on the subject, we suggest you do.

A quick recap:

At a fundamental level, the success of a company’s business and digital strategy in a marketplace largely depends on the strategy of their competitors.

Using digital marketing to communicate why you do what you do

In a marketplace like financial services where ‘trust’ has significant value to consumers, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to use digital marketing channels like SEO & SEM to not just communicate what they do, but to communicate the why and how they go about doing it.

This can take many forms. In our example, we’ve looked at a segment of the loan market. Specifically, the highly competitive auto loans space.

Below we have taken a screenshot which shows how several companies are going about competing in one digital channel, on Google’s paid search (SEM).

Our screenshot shows the 4 companies communicating effectively and clearly to the market what they offer by using offer-based messaging.

This messaging can be broken into the distinct offerings below:

• 4.09%, 4.49% & 5.34% rates
• Low rates as a broad selling point
• Estimated typical savings of $849
• No deposits
• Fast approvals
• No repayment penalties
• Fixed and flexible repayment options

While these are all important parts of communicating a message, their strategies and approach to communicating their separate offers all appear to be just adding to the noise. It seems they are trying to cram as many offers and selling points into their paid search ads.

To create a strategic difference, we believe that these messages need to address the ‘why’.

Addressing the ‘why’ enables consumers to connect more deeply with their reason for engaging with your brand.

Here’s one example of how a financial services company in this space could start communicating ‘why’ they are offering what they do.

In our example above, our fictional bank ‘Examplebank’ is seen testing a variation in messaging which speaks to the bank’s ‘why’.

We’ve chosen to position the brand as helping ‘Australians into new cars’. This aligns the messaging with one reason why a customer would engage with searching for a car loan provider and turns a dry message offer-led message into a potentially more engaging message for the user.

In addition, this approach also enables the brand to start to build an element trust – an important element in financial services – into their SEM ads.

Compare the ads side by side

As with all digital marketing, a robust and methodical approach to testing on paid search should be incorporated to further validate the performance of multiple variations of these messages.

We believe that financial services companies can benefit from thinking strategically and considering the elements of strategic interdependence when it comes to planning and executing their digital marketing strategies. If you’re interested in hearing more about how we can help your company, please get in contact.

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